If you want to ensure you have adequate passwords but don't have the time or interest to study the topic, there's a useful basic article on how to devise strong passwords over at the NY Times. It summarizes key points in 9 simple rules of thumb. Also see the follow-up article for useful reader feedback. Stay safe!

I hear you! I have the exact same problem. It's particularly bad because I'm a support person, so I'm always switching computers. It's really a big productivity loss to constantly have password changes and hassles.

One place I worked at put all the hundreds of passwords into a spreadsheet. Of course, since it was shared by the 10 people on the team, someone would always corrupt the spreadsheet file. What a mess!

Worst of all was when I'd be on call, get the call at 2 am, and find that some dope had updated the password on some server and forgot to update the password spreadsheet. So here you are beeped at 2 am to solve some problem, only to find yourself unable to log in. Yuck!